


Rise and Shine

by Ttiiggeerr



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse, Character Death, Complete, Depressed Harry, Good Severus Snape, M/M, Other, Suicide, Suicide Notes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-28
Updated: 2012-06-28
Packaged: 2020-09-26 11:48:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20389216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ttiiggeerr/pseuds/Ttiiggeerr
Summary: Severus catches Harry out of bed after curfew. Warning: character death, suicide, mentions of severe bullying Supportive!Severus Depressed!Harry Credit to the song goes to Blood on the Dance Floor





	Rise and Shine

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The quote from the middle of the song is by The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. The song is titled ‘Rise and Shine’ by Blood on the Dance Floor.

"Rain, rain go away  
Cloud on my head every single day  
This pain, pain goes right inside  
Breaking me down till I just cry"

Harry walked through the corridors at a slow pace, singing out his pain. It wasn't his fault he was bisexual, and yet all the other people he went to school with felt the need to bully him. None of the teachers saw anything that was out of the ordinary. They just ignored him.

"Little bully wants to play  
Hits me every single day  
Pain, pain goes right inside  
Guess I'll just have to let it slide"

They never saw the circles under his eyes from sleepless nights. He was afraid to sleep in his dormitory because the others had been known to gang up on him and beat him and he couldn't do anything about it. He was powerless with his small frame against ten or more burly guys. He was utterly helpless to stop them, and they weren't concerned with leaving marks. They knew he'd just heal them and not say anything.

"Drain, drain all my life  
Why can't I just stop this strife?  
Rain, rain go away  
Cloud on my head every single day"

Harry continued to sing and walk along the corridors of the school, only the ones that were long deserted that no one bothered going in anymore. Everyone forgot they were here, and the last people to roam these halls were his father and friends. No one was alive that knew of them. He was safe here. Safe from the bullies and the hate. Safe from being caught.

"Beat on another kid  
But not on me  
Rain, rain go away  
Cloud on my head every single day"

His voice rose with strength as it always did when he sung that particular song. It provided him with a strength he wouldn't otherwise have. It gave him a hope he hadn't known since he had been held by his mother. His voice rose higher the longer he sang.

Severus Snape was walking the halls long forgotten in the school when he heard singing. It was painfully sweet, like the person-man-was deeply tormented. He knew that he needed to find the voice and help them. He had once heard the same desperation in his own voice when Lily passed on. Only, this was more than depression. This was worse.

"These games, games that you play  
Eventually I'll get up and say  
No, no not this time  
I'm taking back what is mine"

It echoed down the halls and he followed it. He needed to know what had happened to make someone sound so broken and hopeless with their life. Who was it that was being hurt so much? Who could possibly live through this kind of pain?

"'With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair; a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to stand up for freedom together knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all children will be able to sing with new meaning.'"

As the voice picked up it's tempo, so did his feet. He felt that he had a limited amount of time to get to this person before they did something about their pain. He wouldn't let that happen. Not after almost doing it himself.

"Stand up, take what's mine!  
Insecurities is what you're trying to hide  
I don't care for the things that you that you say  
I know you're just one step from breaking down"

The song hit its peak with tempo, and he found himself running even after it trailed off again. He just needed to find who had been hurt like this.

"Go! Pick yourself up off the ground  
I know that you are better than this"

Harry let himself be lost in the music, letting the volume of his voice rise and fall with the crest of each phrase. His eyes closed, just like they did every other night he was out and about after hours. He felt a tear fall from the inner corner of his left eye and he let his glamours fall.

"Open your eyes, now is the time  
To rise up when darkness will still shine  
Idolize and despised wrong or right  
We’ll make it through to the other side"

He opened his eyes at the command he sung and looked out the window with a blank stare while his body jerked to the rhythm of the music. His left hand created a fist and covered his heart, protecting it from further damage. He looked towards the moon and back down to his shoes as the music came to a slow stop. He looked up to see his professor staring at him.

He was like a ghost. His skin was so pale it looked like paper. His eyes were dark and sunk into his skull while his stomach was nonexistent. He looked like he hadn't had a decent shower in weeks. His nails were painted black and that was the only color the man wore. He looked like a haunted man.

"Harry..." He jumped.

"What do you want?" His voice was small, and only carried a hint of defiance. He was broken, clearly.

"Tell me what's going on. Please." He used the begging card, figuring that he wouldn't say no to him. He didn't. Instead, Professor Severus Snape got the shock of a lifetime.

He described how the others would gang up on him, beat him. He told him the things they would say and do to him at night when no teachers were around. He was clearly relieved to be getting this all out into the open, and the further he went, the more detail he gave. Like how his arm had been broken over ten times just that day. How it snapped so easily now and how it no longer hurt because he was used to it. How it would sting for a moment and then just go numb.

Severus felt like throwing up.

And on he went. He talked well into the next day, relieving himself of the pressures of the bullies. He then told Severus the only way out he saw.

"I have to." Severus shook his head and Harry looked out the window. "Look, it'll never stop if I don't. Voldemort is dead. I have no purpose. Here." He abruptly pulled out a scroll of parchment from his sleeve and handed it to his professor. "Read this to the school. Make them see what they have done, and every year read it at the Welcoming Feast. Prevent as much of the bullying as possible. Please. Let me do this."

He could see the desperation in the black eyes-which were really a dark brown now that he looked-and exactly when he decided that it was what Harry needed to do. He nodded after he had agreed and bent down to the professor who had been on the floor, not having gotten up to look out the window like Harry.

He pressed his lips to Severus's and then pulled out a black pistol. Holding it to his head, he said only one sentence.

"We'll make it through to the other side"

He pulled the trigger.

The next day, Severus stood during lunch.

"All students are to be here, tonight, at seven in all black attire. Everyone. Even those in the hospital wing. No excuses. Now get out of my sight and bother your teachers." He sat back down and watched as all the teachers looked at him in askance. He just shook his head. They would find out soon enough.

Seven came much too early for Severus, and he watched as the kids filed into the Great Hall, expecting dinner.

"You are not here to eat. You are here to know what has happened because of your impudence and inconsideration for others." He cast a nonverbal spell that caused the song of Harry Potter to play, repeating itself until Severus ended the spell.

"In my hand here is a parchment. It was written by Harry Potter. I was asked by him to read this in front of you all and not to read it beforehand. I have not read it as were his wishes.

"Hello anybody. No, this is not a typical 'oh woe is me' letters. This is a heartfelt one that I feel needs to be read and repeated to everyone. All seventh years will get the full story from Professor Severus Snape as he was the one to watch me commit suicide.

"I assure you, it was the right choice. How could it not be, when everywhere I went I was being beaten up physically and emotionally everywhere I turned? When I was afraid to sleep? When my arm was broken a total of ten times a day on average? It was the right thing for me to go. You won't even miss me from your lives. You'll just find someone else to harass.

"Which is why I've decided to reappear in ghost form. I swear on the grave of my dear mother, that I will protect those being bullied. As for those of you who do the bullying, why don't you go and get yourself into a fight with twenty others five times the size of you? Let's see how you handle it. Trick question. You wouldn't be able to. I'm amazed I held out this long.

"What you need to understand is that not everyone is the same. Some people will be attracted to others, and some may not. Big deal. Some may like pink instead of purple. Big whoop. No one really cares. But don't take out your daily frustrations on someone else just because you can't handle your life. It leads to suicide.

"I'm sure Severus will explain in full detail what happened the night he found me and the things I said. I know that you will probably go vomit afterwards. 

"I was bullied. I was beaten. I was put through a lot that I never want to relive. Therefore, I am killing myself tonight when Severus finds me. I hope that you know that every single one of you had played a part in my murder. Yes, murder. I was dead long before Severus found me. My spirit was broken long before then. Each and every one of you murdered me. I already forgave Severus. He found me. He let me talk. He tried understanding. He is the only one that holds no part in this murder. He has no blood on his hands. But you do. I hope that you, the classmates I had, never forgive yourselves."

Severus rolled the parchment up, a tear rolling down his face as he remembered the first and last kiss he ever would receive. He'd be damned if anyone ever thought they could put their lips to his ever again.

"All seventh and eight years will report to my classroom tonight at nine. Dismissed. And may Merlin have mercy on your souls, for Harry Potter will not."

Every year he relayed what had been told to him. Bullying went down considerably, with Harry's hauntings matching and rising above even those of Peeves and Myrtle together. Severus conversed with him daily, and when he died, he remained as a ghost to continue his mission. Harry joined him in the tellings of the letter and the seventh year lecture at the beginning of the year.

And even through all of that, when they were both ghosts and incapable of feeling, they got together. Their relationship blossomed, and twenty years later when Ronald Weasley and Hermione Weasley came to apologize to Harry, a group of thirty or so students from all different Houses chased them from the school. Harry just smiled and Severus thanked them.


End file.
